In a conventional process of the type mentioned, (see Ullman's Eneyklopadie der Technischen Chemie, 4. Auflage, Band 16 "Lagerwerkstoffe bis Milch", Verlag Chemie GmbH Weinheim, 1978, pages 109 to 177) a split leather can be produced.
However, the split leather cannot be described as a low-shrinkage split leather which has such a reduced resistance to shrinkage with temperature and humidity variations, that, bonded to a support, it can be used, for example, on instrument panels and dashboards of automobiles or in integral seats of cabriolets.
Mention may be made of U.K. Patent Application GB 21 51 258 that describes the dressing of the grain split of sheepskin utilizing a shaving operation after imparting a high moisture content to the sheepskin. The product is particularly useful as a bookbinding.
German Open Application DE-OS 1,660,078 describes a process for the formation of composites of leather and covering layers for the leather. The covering layers which have a higher strength than split leather and can have a greater thickness, can include plastics, synthetic leather, rubber, paper or synthetic resin impregnated textile materials. Finally, we may mention U.S. Pat. No. 4,060,384 which describes the manufacture of split leather utilizing many of the steps mentioned herein. However, none of these earlier systems is capable of obtaining a fully satisfactory shrink-resistant split leather capable of satisfactory use in the applications indicated.